London -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Space has come of age , grown up enough to be commercially viable -- or has it ?

For more than 80 years the BIS has been looking at how we get into , and travel in , space , but the society has concentrated more on the technical achievement or feasibility than on the finance or contractual requirements .

From the end of World War II , technologies were very much in the hands of the defense industries and development was funded by the defense departments of national governments . Recognizing the strategic importance of space led to the ` space race ' and the conquest of space being nationally or government funded .

However , times change . The end of the Cold War led to the end of the space race -- governments no longer had to prove their nation 's technical superiority in space .

But in many Western industrialized nations , as the government support and funding reduced overall , there appeared a raft of technically capable companies and some government departments and entrepreneurs who were able to identify key areas where there could be a viable and sustainable return on their investment .

Communications satellites became commercial products as soon it was realized that communications capacity could be sold and could provide a realistic return over their lifetime .

Science and Earth observation -LRB- EO -RRB- missions have not met with such commercialization yet . It is difficult to see a commercial return from scientific exploration of either our own planet or other celestial bodies .

But the gathered EO information could see a commercial return from the sale of mapping , environmental or weather data , or charges for navigation services . However , military and government owned assets -- already fully operational -- make it hard to compete .

When it comes to launchers and human spaceflight things are changing . The original missile-based launch vehicles gave way to commercially manufactured , but government-owned and operated systems .

Now the launcher market is opening up as new players broach new user markets . Space tourism and small payloads have very different launch requirements that are best satisfied by new systems -- like Virgin Galactic 's Spaceship 2 and XCOR 's Lynx spaceplanes .

BIS spokesman Nick Spall adds : `` For many the fascination for space is the almost visceral desire we have to travel further and faster to explore and to spread human interest across the cosmos . The BIS has championed the goal of eventually colonizing the solar system and , indeed , traveling on to the stars one day .

`` To achieve this human spaceflight ambition , NASA is quite correct in its decision to use a commercialized approach to lowering the cost of launching astronauts into orbit . The investment in Boeing 's CST-100 and the Space X V2 spacecraft for flights to the ISS from 2017 will make seat prices cheaper and more sustainable .

`` For the future though , reusable spaceplanes such as the UK 's Skylon are the real answer to getting humans and hardware into space to properly explore and occupy the rest of the solar system .

`` To help this low-cost approach happen , purely private space tourism spacecraft companies will offer affordable flights to space , with Virgin Galactic 's SS2 and the XCOR Lynx going sub-orbit in the next two years . One day we will see space hotels in orbit and then on the Moon and eventually Mars .

`` To go into deep space , to asteroids , the Moon and Mars , governments will have to foot the bill initially , but the possibilities are immense and there is a very exciting future for humans in space , '' he said .

BIS President-Elect Mark Hempsell believes the UK government 's new policy of maximizing economic return from space is illustrated by the recent studies into setting up spaceports in the UK , both for suborbital and orbital flights .

`` The recent change in UK government direction , with the formation of the UK Space Agency as a key component , is at long last connecting the vision within Britain with the capability to realize its potential , '' he said .

Another important factor of space exploration is in its relations with the dual areas of education and outreach .

Space education

BIS vice president Chris Welch said : `` Space -- and especially space exploration -- has been shown time and again to engage and motivate students in a way that few other topics can .

`` It also has a role to play for defining how a country sees itself . One only has to look at the recent exploits of China and India to see how success in space exploration can transform a nation 's view of itself and what its citizens can achieve if they believe they can aspire to greatness , '' he said .

NASA 's decision to sub-contract Boeing and SpaceX is a sign of things to come , but governments must continue to support and fund those areas that are not yet self-sustaining .

The UK space sector is currently bringing in over Â # 11.3 billion -LRB- $ 18.07 billion -RRB- per annum to the UK economy and supports 99,000 jobs . The UK government , recognizing this important contribution , plans to capture 10 % of the world space market and generate more than Â # 40 billion -LRB- $ 64 billion -RRB- per annum by 2030 , according to the UK government . This will certainly require the support and leadership of UK industry and the creation of up to 100,000 new jobs .

With India 's Mangalyaan spacecraft now orbiting Mars and China 's `` taikonauts '' in Earth orbit and its Chang ' e 3 lunar lander already on the Moon , the competition is heating up .

The space industries of the Western industrialized nations must play their part in identifying where they can make a real contribution and even take a leadership role , while the national space agencies take on more of a coordination and funding role , particularly in scientific exploration and manned missions

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It is difficult to see a commercial return from scientific exploration , says Alistair Scott

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Earth observation missions have not met with commercialization yet , says Scott

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But the launcher market is opening up as new players broach new markets , he says

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Scott : National space agencies should take on more of a funding role for science missions